The Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation, with its emphasis on living out the Christian life in the everyday world, had little time for religious orders. In 1525, Martin Luther married a former nun, Katharina von Bora. Katharina had been a nun at the Cistercian convent of Marienthron, but had become disillusioned with the religious life, seeing mar- riage as a better option. Religious orders either dwindled into insignificance or were forcibly suppressed in Protestant territories. As a result, women were denied a significant leadership role within both church and society at large. Protestant churches retained exclusively male leadership models, forcing women into the background.

This was counterbalanced by the Protestant emphasis of the importance of marriage, and especially the role of women in running households. This was often seen as a social and commercial partnership, symbolized by commissioning “diptych portraits” – a single painting depicting both husband and wife, with equal emphasis being given to both. This partnership of husband and wife stood at the heart of the household. The cor- respondence between a prosperous Nuremberg couple, Magdalena Paumgartner and her husband Balthasar Paumgartner (1551–1600), illustrates how they shared the rule of their household, the rearing of their children, and the management of their business operations. Many commercial operations would continue to be run by widows after the death of their husbands, partly out of economic necessity, but partly because of their existing experience of managing such enterprises.

The religious empowerment of women as result of Protestantism is suggested by the high profile of female advocates of reform, who often attracted considerable followings. Argula von Grumbach, a Bavarian noblewoman, was incensed when the University of Ingolstadt attempted to repress Protestantism. She wrote a forceful letter to the rector and senate of the university, demanding that they reconsider their views. The letter was published as a pamphlet in 1523, and went through fourteen editions in two months.